chazzarelli

I need some help searching for a great half day or full day wine tour through Chianti or other areas in Tuscany.

I will be staying in Siena for 5 days, and have been searching for tours that would be appealing. I found on www.initaly.com a couple of tours, "The Wonders of Chianti" and "Crete: The Southern Part of Siena".

Has anyone been on either of these tours? Can anyone suggest another tour or website for me to look at. I'm looking for something that begins or will pick me up in Siena and then tour a couple of wineries, do some tasting/buying of wines, eat lunch and enjoy the views along the ride.

Thanks for the help!

Flame123

I can highly recommend Luca Garapa of www.hillsandroads.com. Do a seach on this board and you will find many who recommend him, and many who have used and loved his tours. He does not specifically do wine tours but he does private or small-group tours which can include wineries, or whatever else you are interested in. He is a wonderful tour guide, fun and knowledgeable, very safe and courteous driver, and prices are reasonable. Let me know if you need any other info.

chazzarelli

If they do not do wine tours, how do you set up visits at wineries? Do you have to contact the wineries directly to arrange this? I've heard that alot of times, you can't just show up, as they are only open certain days.

My other concern is that I am going in early/mid September, which should be right around harvest season?

I also should mention that I'm hoping that the winery tours include tours and tasting of olive oil as well.

Flame123

What I meant was that he does not do ONLY wine tours. He is a private individual who does day tours in the Tuscany area. If you like, he can arrange an entire touring day for you where you ONLY go to several wineries. He does all the arrangements. However I meant that you can incorporate a winery or two into a full day tour which also includes other attractions, (as we did four years ago when we used him for 2 separate touring days).

ekscrunchy

You can just show up at most small wineries. OR, you can e-mail and ask for an appointment at the larger ones. Either way, you should buy a bottle or two in exchange for the courtesy of allowing you to visit. There will be olive oil only at select wineries. I would not count on that.

One tour which I took last time was at Avignonesi, a very well respected producer; you would need an appointment there.

You do not need a wine tour specifically; it sounds as if you need a private driver to take you around for a few hours. So try to contact Luca, who is very popular here and sounds like a great guy. If that does not work, try a search for private driver in southern Tuscany.

http://www.tuscanybytaxi.it/pages/eng/tours.htm



http://www.culturalitaly.com/things-.../winetours.htm


http://www.avignonesi.it/eng-aziende.htm

chazzarelli

Even though I can't bring anything back to Qatar, I'll be buying and sending back to my parents back in the US.

I will definitely contact Luca, as this seems like a great way to set something up.

kfusto

I have done multiple winery tours with Luca over the past 5 years and highly recommend him. He tailored the wineries we visited to suit our tastes (no Mondavi style tour bus vineyards for us) and since we are tasting, we would never choose to drive ourselves.

We have always enjoyed our time with Luca.

Love2travel2europe

If you are staying in Siena, I would highly recommend to do a wine tasting class at the Tuscan Wine School. We did the Tuscan wine class and tasted 6 different wines, accompanied by bread, cheese and then chocolate. It was a great experience all together and we were just the two of us! Their site is: http://www.tuscanwineschool.com

douminawhyman

Try www.TheEnthusiasticTraveler.com for wine tours, hikes, and many other guided tours. The web-site is explanatory!

chazzarelli

Thanks for the suggestions, I have already booked a full day with Luca.